For a long time, France and Russia were the main suppliers of the Cypriot National Guard, notably due to an arms embargo imposed by the United States on the Republic of Cyprus [embargo qui a d’ailleurs été totalement levé en septembre 2022].
Currently, the Cypriot National Guard has T-80 tanks acquired from Russia, alongside French-made AMX-30s. France also delivered armored front vehicles [VAB]TRF1 and AMX Mle F3 cannons as well as Gazelle helicopters and MISTRAL anti-aircraft missiles.
Even if Nicosia and Moscow maintained very good relations at least until the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, it is now necessary for the Cypriot National Guard to replace its Russian-made equipment given that their maintenance in operational condition [MCO] is now complicated, in particular because of the sanctions taken by the European Union [UE] with regard to Russia and the American legislation known as CAATSA. Hence the recent purchase of six H145M helicopters from Airbus Helicopters to replace the eleven Mil Mi-35s that it sold to Serbia.
More generally, the Cypriot National Guard intends to modernize its capabilities. In addition to the H145M order, it has already acquired Nora B-52 self-propelled guns from Serbia. And, in 2023, Nicosia began discussions with a view to obtaining second-hand Israeli Merkava Mk III tanks, in order to replace the AMX-30s and part of the T-80s. However, after the terrorist attacks of October 7, Israel withdrew them from the market.
Was the question of renewing these AMX-30s and these T-80s raised during the meeting between the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, and his Cypriot counterpart, Vasilis Palmas, at the Euronaval exhibition? 2024, November 5?
“The defense partnership between France and Cyprus is central in the current security context: for maritime security in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as for de-escalation in the Middle East.
Exchanges with my Cypriot counterpart Vasilis Parmis, visiting Paris for the Euronaval show. France supports the effort to modernize the Cypriot armed forces,” commented Mr. Lecornu in providing more details.
Why would the subject of tanks have been broached? Quite simply because, according to information from the newspaper Kathimerini published a few days ago and spotted by Blablachars, France would have offered Leclerc tanks to the Republic of Cyprus, as part of an agreement valued at 250 million euros.
“It is not known whether France is offering new or used Leclerc tanks, with some reports suggesting the possibility that second-hand examples could come from a batch previously sold in the United Arab Emirates,” says the daily.
The production of Leclerc being stopped, they can only be used tanks. Could they come from the United Arab Emirates, as Kathimerini suggests? It is possible, especially since the Emirati army ceded between 60 and 70 copies to its Jordanian counterpart. But it is also not excluded that the tanks offered come from French stocks.
Indeed, of the 406 Leclercs it received, the Army only kept 222. And, according to the Military Programming Law [LPM] 2024-30, it will only have 200 left, all upgraded to the XLR standard… Which would make it possible to resell those it will no longer use. Such an idea was also put forward in 2009. At the time, France offered to transfer 30 to 40 copies to Colombia, which declined this offer. That being said, it remains to be seen the state in which these tanks placed in reserve are… and, above all, the investment necessary to make them operational again.
Can such a proposal appeal to the Cypriot general staff? In any case, it would allow it to modernize its armored component at lower cost. But it is not certain that the Leclerc is the preferred tank, the German Leopard 2 seeming the best placed given that it also equips the Greek army.
